Make many mistakes about it: A bad, bad, bad loss for Stanford

UCLA 23, Stanford 20: The worst loss for the Cardinal since UC Davis/UCLA/Notre Dame/take-your-pick in the oh-so-close-to-bowl-eligible-fall of ’05.

Of course, the Cardinal hasn’t played many meaningful games in the past two-plus seasons. So if you’re a Stanford fan, at least you have that going for you: The program is decent enough to suffer a brutal loss.

And that was brutal.

I’ll get to the big picture in a minute, because there is one and it’s not pretty. But first, some thoughts on Saturday:

A few minutes from unofficially clinching a bowl berth, the Cardinal continued its oh-for-the-00s streak in the Rose Bowl. Except Stanford didn’t really lose the game in the final minutes.

It lost the game late in the second quarter and then in the third, when it committed a series of mistakes and failed to put the Bruins away — kinda the same way Arizona failed to put the Cardinal away the Saturday prior.

For example, consider the Bruins’ end-of-the-first-half drive: It was significant for much more than the three points it generated. It gave UCLA and quarterback Kevin Craft a dash of momentum entering halftime.

And the drive wouldn’t have happened without a plethora of Stanford miscues:

* Two offsides penalties.

* A personal foul on Michael Thomas for hitting Craft out of bounds (absolutely the right call, even if the hit wasn’t at full force).

* A pass interference in the end zone on Wopamo Osaisai, which gave the Bruins an extra-point kick that was worth three.

Then we move into the third quarter and:

* Quarterback Tavita Pritchard throws an interception at the UCLA 40. So much for a potential field goal/touchdown.

* Doug Baldwin fumbles a punt at the Cardinal 30. The Bruins pounce, pulling within 14-13.

And then we have the gaffe on UCLA’s game-winning drive:

* Pass interference on Clinton Snyder, giving the Bruins first down at the seven.

For a bunch of smart guys, the Cardinal played … not very smart. But this was not a one-time lapse in execution/judgement/concentration.

(I’m not even counting the 12-penalty performance at Washington, because the Huskies aren’t good enough to take advantage.)

The three-game barrage of mistakes is largely responsible for Stanford dropping to No. 108 in the country in turnover margin, at minus-1.13 per game.

The Cardinal isn’t close to being talented enough to make that many gaffes and win on a semi-consistent basis.

And it shouldn’t be making anywhere close to that many mistakes given its ultra-low-risk style. For a run-oriented offense like Stanford’s to commit three turnovers per game is the equivalent of a high-risk, pass-oriented attack (ie: most of the teams in the Pac-10) committing four or five.

How many teams win regularly with four or five turnovers?

Jim Harbaugh and his staff deserve credit for molding Stanford into a more physical team and playing to the Cardinal’s personnel.

(I thought the use of Alex Loukas and the spread option was very smart. Anything Harbaugh can do to take the ball out of Pritchard’s hands, the better chance Stanford has.)

But it sure seems like Stanford should spend its bye week working on fundamentals. The Cardinal is not a very sound team right now.